Lewis Hamilton jokingly calls out F1 reporter for 'pretty low' prediction at Bahrain GP

Lewis Hamilton jokingly called out an F1 reporter for a 'pretty low' prediction before the start of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The season-opening race of the 2024 season represents Hamilton's final appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Mercedes, as he will leave the team at the end of the season to join Ferrari.

Saturday qualifying in Sakhir was a challenge for the Brit, as despite being only 0.5 seconds behind polesitter Max Verstappen, he qualified in ninth place. Team-mate George Russell finished third.

It wasn't the ideal start to the race either for Hamilton, as he fell down to ninth before overtaking Fernando Alonso prior to the first pit stop.

However, shortly after changing tyres, the seven-time world champion reported issues with his Energy Recovery System (ERS) battery on the team radio. He also had problems with his seat.

Russell, meanwhile, ran as high as second in the early stages but later dropped behind Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz into fourth.

Before the Grand Prix, several reporters and pundits from F1's in-house F1TV coverage gave their season predictions on where each driver would finish.

Unsurprisingly, all six believe that Verstappen will win his fourth consecutive Drivers' Championship with Red Bull.

Five of the six contributors picked Leclerc to finish second, while one predicted that his team-mate Sainz would finish as runner-up in his final season with Ferrari before being replaced by Hamilton.

As for Hamilton, F1TV presenter Will Buxton predicts that he will finish in third place in the Drivers' Championship.

But that is as good as it got for the 39-year-old, with a fourth place, two fifth places and a sixth place also predicted.

But fellow presenter Lawrence Barretto predicted Hamilton to finish in seventh place - and he was jokingly called out before the race.

In a pre-race interview with F1TV, the seven-time champion smiled before remarking: "Let me pull you up on something - you rated me pretty low, on the predictions..."

You can watch the clip below.

the cackle i let out 😭😭 unserious ass man pic.twitter.com/8hCUAbUHL5

— mari🏎️ (@f1brekkdown) March 2, 2024

He then laughed: "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Just putting you on the spot. You should see his face!"